Mariners, Seahawks, Sonics, Canucks, and any other sports tidbits we deem to be worthy. Or other stuff.All this from the minds of two former residents of the humble town of Bremerton, Washington.Cast: David (Bremerton WA), Jeremy (2003-2007).(post times Pacific, like Bremerton)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

GAME 97: RED SOX 2, MARINERS 1

I thought it was going to happen in Thursday's game, but ultimately the karmic balance within the game prevented it from happening. In this game, however, it happened -- the Mariners were undone by Bill Hall. That just hurts, considering the guy couldn't hit in his short tenure in Seattle, and all he did was strike out. Mariner hitters were completely oblivious to the fact that this was Josh Beckett's first start in months, and instead hit like Josh Beckett was in the middle of a Cy Young season. They didn't get no-hit into the eighth inning like in Friday's game, but they still were futile at the plate. Oh, and there was some sort of physical altercation in the dugout that resulted in Chone Figgins being pulled from the game in the fifth inning. At least he's only on a long-term contract.

-- all the pitching will be discussed in the gameballs

-- the bullpen rest bulletin: Brandon League threw in this game. Going into Saturday's game, Brian Sweeney, Jamey Wright, David Aardsma, and Garrett Olson will have a day of rest, while Chris Seddon will have three days of rest.

-- let's go over the Mariners' offensive output. In the first, Ichiro led off with an infield single. Chone Figgins struck out, but Ichiro stole second on the pitch. Jose Lopez lined a ball past the bag at third, and the umpire appeared to throw up his hands like it was foul, but then he signaled fair. A fan in the seats down the leftfield line picked the ball right up and handed it to the kid sitting next to him. Lopez waited for the call and stayed very close to home plate and it might have been a single if the fan didn't reach for it. Ichiro scored on the play, capping the Mariners' scoring. I think the fan got tossed, but I think I can cut the guy some slack because there probably wasn't a lot of time between the umpire giving what seemed to be a time/foul signal and the ball getting there. Lopez, however...he should have been running the whole time. Ultimately, it's inconsequential.

-- in the third, Ichiro led off with another infield single and Figgins walked. Franklin Gutierrez did the fielder's choice thing, and runners were on first and third with one out. Jose Lopez popped to short and Justin Smoak grounded to second to end that threat. In the fourth, Michael Saunders doubled with one out and was the third out of the inning when the ball was hit to Adrian Beltre, who waited for Saunders to come to him. In the fifth, Josh Wilson doubled with one out and went to third on a Gutierrez grounder, but nobody scored. In the seventh, Jack Wilson led off with a walk, but the next two plays were fielder's choices that erased the lead runner. In the ninth, though everything occurred with two out, Jack doubled, Ichiro was given first base intentionally, then Josh whiffed. The way it's gone for the Mariners this season, they couldn't win even when the other team put the winning run on first base, though there were two out.

-- in the fifth, Mike Cameron led off with a double to deep leftfield. Saunders threw toward the infield, and it appeared he threw to nobody. In the middle of the fifth inning, there was some sort of physical scuffling going on, and all I saw on the video afterward was Don Wakamatsu walking away from the throng of players as they all moved in the other direction. Anyway, that throw enabled Cameron to scoot to third with nobody out.

-- Rob Johnson actually made a good play, picking David Ortiz off of third with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning.

-- Ichiro went 2-for-4 in the game, pushing him to 125-for-398 (.314) on the season. He is now on pace to finish the season with 209 hits.

-- now, the Ichiro/Figgins stat. Ichiro had two hits and scored once. Figgins walked and struck out, but was hitless and didn't score, then was removed from the game. The Mariners remain 12-6 when both players score and 17-29 when both collect hits.